Westland Distillery Adds Sherry Wood, Peated American Single Malts

Westland Distillery, based in Seattle, Washington, continues to aim to make itself the king of American single malts with the recent debuts of two regular expressions in its line up. This distillery should be fairly familiar to our regular readers as we did an onsite visit and tasting just last month.

Westland’s two new offerings are their Peated American Single Malt, bottled at 46% ABV, and their Sherry Wood single malt, clocking in at 46% ABV as well. Both follow on the heels of Westland’s flagship American Single Malt, which was launched last year.

The Peated, according to Westland, “is a bottling made of two separate new-make spirits brought together after maturation. The first is made from a mash of peated malt, said to be among the smokiest found in the New World, the second is from a mash of 100% Washington-grown pale malt. The whiskey is then matured in a variety of oak barrels, including 1st-fill ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.”

The Sherry Wood, meanwhile, was matured in former Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks. These barrels are said to have had a long journey, first starting as timber from southern American forests before heading across the Atlantic to Spain to hold sherry. From there, after being rehabbed, they were then brought to Seattle to hold the whiskey.

Price wise, the Peated seems to be going for between $50 and $80 a bottle, while the Sherry Wood is running between $55 and $90. Official tasting notes for both are below.

Sherry Wood – Soft pancakes with maple syrup leads on the nose, closely followed by oatmeal raisin cookies and a selection of stewed yellow and green fruits. The palate adds some grapefruit to the pancake breakfast while the oatmeal raisin cookies begin to share the plate with some gingersnap cookies. With time in the glass, dried mango and star fruit emerge with a touch of kiwi to round things off.

Peated – The nose starts off with crunchy peanut butter, smoldering campfire and honey on a biscuit. The smoke from the campfire leaps out on the initial palate along with pistachio, almond and oloroso sherry. With time, the campfire transitions into smoldering earth and leather on the nose. Over the course of the tasting, the palate moves into dark, earthy herbs and spices. Peat iodine, anise, bing cherry and peanut butter remain on the finish.